The main temples of Murugan are located in Southern Tamil Nadu. They include the Aru Padaiveedu (six houses- rather, military camps in his campaign against demon) - Thiruchendur, Swamimalai, Pazhamudircholai, Thirupparangunram, Palani (Pazhani), Thiruthani - and other important shrines like Mayilam, Sikkal, Marudamalai, Kundrathur, Vadapalani, Kandakottam, Vallakottai, Vayalur, Thirumalaikoil, Kukke Subramanya. Malai Mandir, a prominent and popular temple complex in Delhi, is probably the only major one dedicated to Murugan in all of North India.
The key temples in Sri Lanka include the sylvan shrine in Kataragama / (Kadirgamam), or Kathirkamam in the deep south, the temple in Tirukovil in the east, the shrine in Embekke in the Kandyan region and the famed Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna.
There are several temples dedicated to Murugan in Malaysia, the most famous being the Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur. There is a 42.7m high statue of Lord Murugan at the entrance to the Batu Caves, which is the largest Murugan statue in the world.
Sri Thendayuthapani Temple in Tank Road, Singapore is a major Hindu temple where each year the Thaipusam festival takes place with devotees of Lord Muruga carry Kavadis seeking penance and blessings of the Lord.
In United kingdom, Highgate Hill Murugan temple is one of the oldest and most famous.The Queen Elizabeth II of Britain paid her first visit to this temple on July 6th 2002 as part of Golden Jubilee celebrations.
In Australia, Sydney Murugan temple in Parramatta (Mays Hill) is a major Hindu temple for all Australian Hindus
Though there are thousands of temples for the Hindu god Lord Muruga - around the globe, the six specific temples( Aru Padaiveedu) enjoy unparalled sanctity and populaity among the devotees of Muruga or Balasubramanya - and deserve a very special mention.
The origins of these temples go back by more than 2000 years. We find references to these temples in many of the ancient tamil language literatures like Silapathikaram.
The six places are believed to be six different battle camps of Lord Muruga. We find that interesting legends and puranas are associated with each of these temples of Kumara (Lord Muruga).
Ancient tamil work Thirumurugatupadai - sung by tamil saint poet Nakkerar in 1st century AD, hails each of these six places with prominance and importance. The poems also reveal that all of these temples were well established even during the sangam age (1st to 3rd century AD) - which only pushes the origins of these temples to periods before christ (BC).
Legend associated with Thirumurugatruppadai
Legend has it that Nakkerar, a famous tamil poet in the Pandiya empire was imprisoned by a ghost in Thiruparamkundram, a mountanous region near Madurai in tamilnadu. Nakeerar, who was an ardent devotee of Lord Karthikeya, sang the songs in Thirumurugatrupadai - in praise of the Lord - while in prison. As he completed his poetry, the Lord appeared, demolished the Ghost and blessed Nakkerar.
Almost all important events in the life of Lord Muruga or arumuga, are supposed to have take place in these six places.
In Thiruparamkundram, the Lord wedded Deivayani or Devasena, daughter of Indra
In Thiruchendur, the Lord killed Soorapadhman, a daemon king of asuras
In Pazhani, the Lord renounced the world, and set himself apart from the family
In Swamimalai, Lord Kumara became a Guru to his own father, Lord shiva
In Thiruthani, the Lord wedded Valli, daughter of a forest king
In Pazhamudircholai, the Lord blessed avvaiyar, another famous tamil poet.
Apart from nakeerar, many other devotees of Lord Muruga - from time to time, in different centuries - visited these temples and sung in praise of the Lord of these temples.
Prominent among them are :
Arunagiri nathar - a saint poet
Avvaiyar - a female saint poet
Kumara Guruparar - a hindu saint
Vallalar - another hindu saint and
Muthuswamy Deekshidar - one of the three gurus of carnatic music.